The Gates of Hell

by Chris Kennedy

  “Sure, thanks.” Renzo followed him in and sat down at a tiny camp table that held a small battery lamp and a bottle with a single cup. Calvin turned to a cabinet and rummaged around for a moment before turning back, another cup in his hand.

  “So,” he said, plunking the cup down in front of Renzo and pouring some of the liquid into it. “What brings you up here tonight besides insomnia?”

  “I just thought…maybe you might want to talk.”

  “About what? The way you bluffed my company into surrendering with your insane kamikaze charge?”

  “If you like,” Renzo said. “Though it wasn’t a bluff; I was just out of options and ammo. What else was I supposed to do?”

  “You could have surrendered,” Calvin said, humor threading through his tone.

  “But then you’d have rolled up the entire line.”

  “Yep. That I would have. What I want to know, though, is how under a million suns you held off on using your Bravo Company for so long!”

  “We thought they were dead,” Renzo said honestly. “We thought you guys got them in your first charge up the hill.”

  “Huh. Damn that hill,” Calvin said with feeling.

  “Indeed,” Renzo agreed, picturing the crumpled, lifeless CASPer of Lieutenant Fauls, and the other brave, tough men and women who’d bled out their lives under the Laupapalaiti lightning.

  “You know the Zuparti army will attack again tomorrow?” Calvin asked.

  “I do,” Renzo said, “but we’ve been moved up the list for evacuation. Word from my leadership is that you and the Lone Star Company were strong-armed into taking this contract, with no way out but our evac point. That’s it for us. We’re leaving tomorrow, and you’re coming with us. This war may continue forever, but it will do so without humanity.”

  “Well, hell,” Calvin said, shrugging. He lifted the cup and raised it toward Renzo. “I guess I’ll drink to that.”

  Despite himself, despite everything, Renzo found himself laughing.

  “Me, too, Colonel. Me, too.”

  * * * * *

  Kacey Ezell Bio

  Kacey Ezell is an active duty USAF instructor pilot with 2500+ hours in the UH-1N Huey and Mi-171 helicopters. When not teaching young pilots to beat the air into submission, she writes sci-fi/fantasy/horror/noir/alternate history fiction. Her first novel, MINDS OF MEN, was a Dragon Award Finalist for Best Alternate History. She’s contributed to multiple Baen anthologies and has twice been selected for inclusion in the Year’s Best Military and Adventure Science Fiction compilation. In 2018, her story “Family Over Blood” won the Year’s Best Military and Adventure Science Fiction Readers’ Choice Award. In addition to writing for Baen, she has published several novels and short stories with independent publisher Chris Kennedy Publishing. She is married with two daughters. You can find out more and join her mailing list at www.kaceyezell.net.

  * * * * *

  The Thelosi Gambit by Quincy J. Allen

  1

  Karma Station

  Guild Operations Sector

  Mercenary Guild Negotiation Chamber

  Karma station, its docks lined with vessels, filled the wide viewports of the conference room. Private Max Boudreaux stole his gaze away from the beginning of the negotiations and reveled in his first trip to Karma. A massive cargo hauler approached the dock at the near end of the facility, while two mercenary cruisers maneuvered out of their births on the far side, headed, presumably, for the jump point. At the voice of Colonel Hu, commander of Hu’s Hawks, Boudreaux turned his attention back where it should be and waited for the order to begin the attack.

  “I must tell you, Praeliet Tokarra,” Colonel Hu said evenly, using the Veetanho’s title, “we’re not at all happy with the situation we found ourselves in on Kuason.” Hu eyed the wealthy merchant who sat at the other end of the conference table. The commander of Hu’s Hawks was not a big man. At only 1.7 meters, with a wiry, cord-thin frame, his presence still seemed to fill any room. His black hair was cut close along the sides, with a thicker shock over the top of his head, and he wore a form-fitting uniform in the black and red of his mercenary company. His narrow, piercing dark eyes were set in angular features as he continued, “I’m reticent to undertake another contract for you, particularly if it involves the Thelosi again.” He leaned back in his chair. “We still haven’t found their species in any database, and I find that rather troubling. Have you informed the Union?”

  “Not yet,” Tokarra replied smoothly.

  “Additionally,” Lieutenant Yeo Jiang chimed in, “our losses were significant.” She ran a hand over the thigh of her prosthetic leg, which had replaced the real one she’d lost on Kuason. She eyed the two Veetanho mercs standing behind Tokarra, their slim rifles slung. “While our initial contract afforded us appreciable combat bonuses, and we’re grateful you paid in full without argument, the loss of lives, equipment, and expertise set us back in ways we could never have anticipated.”

  Tokarra blinked her keen black eyes several times, and then she bared her front teeth, the Veetanho version of a smile. Her smooth white fur was offset by a green sash decorated with glittering red gems that seemed to have a radiance all their own, almost as if they were subtly illuminated from within.

  “I completely understand,” she said in a placating tone. Her native language was instantly translated via the Hawks’ pinplants. “Those events, while costly to you, were of immeasurable benefit to me and my associates. The Hawks did a marvelous job setting the tracker on that ship, and the information you acquired for us is still bearing fruit.”

  “I don’t suppose you could be a little more specific,” Yeo asked.

  “I’m afraid not. I’m here to negotiate another contract—of a slightly different nature. And yes, it does involve the Thelosi. It’s also back on Kuason, the planet where you first encountered them, but they’ve shifted to a more mountainous, underground location.” Both Hu and Yeo tensed up. “However,” the Veetanho continued quickly, “we’ll be providing you with considerably more intel than before. That includes the number and disposition of forces, a rough layout of the underground cave system taken from orbital-based, ground-penetrating radar, and the location of both Thelosi dropships, which they’ve immersed in a nearby lake. We acknowledge we didn’t provide nearly enough information on the last mission, although we didn’t have much more to offer you at the time. Regardless, we are in a position to remedy that oversight here and now. I would also point out that your own experiences regarding the Thelosi have given you a better understanding of their tactics and capabilities…far better than anyone else we could have chosen to work with.”

  “Those huài dàn are bloody ghosts,” Yeo blurted.

  “I’m sorry,” Tokarra said, “but did you say…bad eggs?”

  “Nevermind that,” Hu injected, placing a hand on Yeo’s arm. “Suffice it to say, we’re reticent to engage once again with beings who seem to have a natural ability to remain hidden, even when we’re looking straight at them.”

  “Again, Humans have proven themselves to be more than capable of adapting to new tactical situations. I have no doubt your organization will find ways to be successful here. I have a great deal riding on it, in fact. To that end, the Thelosi in question are the same group you faced before. They are marauders from an unknown corner of the galaxy, and their piracy has had a serious impact upon business operations I and my associates deem critical to our long-term objectives.”

  “Why not hire a Besquith or Tortantula merc company with more punch than we have to just wipe the marauders out?” Yeo asked.

  “Knowledge is power.” Tokarra’s reply was flat, almost emotionless. “And frankly, we know next to nothing about this species. Why invest in the long-term eradication of an enemy of unknown size and disposition, when we can glean more data through the use of specialists in information gathering. We haven’t abandoned the hope that we can, perhaps, find ways to create an alliance with these beings and put them to good use. T
he Hawks are ideally suited to infiltration and task-specific missions on this scale. Mercenary companies of the sort you suggest are the nuclear option, whereas your organization is more closely likened to the application of a surgical scalpel.”

  Hu and Yeo looked at each other for a moment, and then Yeo turned to where Boudreaux and Private Azeela Mopantomobogo—AZ for short—stood behind her, hands resting casually upon their sidearms. Both privates stood somewhat stiffly, dark aviator glasses hiding their eyes, as they presented the illusion of being bodyguards. Yeo nodded once to Boudreaux and transmitted a single command via her pinplants: “Initiate the hack.” She then then turned back to the negotiations, her attention focused on the Veetanho who might or might not be an enemy of Hu’s Hawks.

  Tokarra slid a large slate across the table for Hu and Yeo to examine as Boudreaux and AZ’s eyes glazed over behind their glasses. The two privates dove into the GalNet side-by-side.

  “We’ve been able to determine where that ship went, and we now want you to capture a Thelosi. As you can see…” the Veetanho said, but her voice was quickly lost to the two privates.

  Boudreaux and AZ’s attention was, instead, now focused on using their newly-installed pinplants to hack Tokarra’s slate without being detected. A web of energized data filled Boudreaux’s thoughts. He saw not with his eyes, but with his mind, and he could feel AZ moving with him as he navigated through the GalNet toward his objective.

  “There it is,” Boudreaux said excitedly as they approached the glowing nexus of a firewall identified by its digital address.

  “Pulling up the slicer code now.” AZ seemed to hover beside him in the orange latticework of digital streams that flowed around them like glowing rivers of gossamer web. A tight bundle of crimson threads appeared before them, hovering just at the edge of the firewall. “Initializing.”

  The bundle seemed to unfold around the edges, and tendrils not unlike the legs of an insect spread out and seemed to plug themselves into the firewall.

  “Plugging in,” Boudreaux said. As he closed the connection, a complex construct appeared within the firewall, with countless paths slowly twisting and turning in a jumbled mass. “Holy shit.” Boudreaux was having a hard time figuring out where to begin.

  “Just focus on the hack,” AZ replied, as if she’d heard him. He had to wonder if she had.

  The tendrils of the slicer code started picking and parsing through the threads within the construct. As it did, a tiny hole, little more than a pinprick, appeared in the center of the firewall. Pale white light shone through; if they opened the port fully, they’d be able to access all the data that lay beyond. The hole grew, and as it did, a glowing spark of light drifted inward, nearing the tunnel they were digging into the firewall. Boudreaux and AZ felt a warning buzz in their thoughts. The slicer code identified the spark as an alert node, and if it reached the gap they were creating, the firewall would shut down and send an alarm.

  “Watch that node there,” Boudreaux said.

  “I’ve got it.” AZ’s presence seemed to grow larger in Boudreaux’s mind, then one of the slicer’s tendrils approached the alert node and began spinning a glowing blue cocoon around it. Moments later, the spark seemed to go dormant and drifted away on whatever currents shifted the interior of the firewall.

  “This slicer code is really slick,” Boudreaux said. “Look how it’s making those alert nodes dormant.”

  “It’s too bad we can’t keep the program,” AZ replied. “He said we’d only get one shot, and then the code itself would go dormant.”

  “Could you recreate it?” Boudreaux asked as another alert node drifted toward their breach. He initialized a tendril and sent it off to capture the alert node.

  “Unlikely. Some of this code looks like complete gibberish to me…it’s probably alien, or encrypted several times…or both. And the key-cypher he provided is time-coded.”

  They kept working, peeling away one layer of security after another as the tunnel widened…

  * * *

  “The modified contract is agreeable,” Tokarra said. “I see no issues with your revisions to combat bonuses, casualty and death bonuses, and the clause regarding the quality of the intel we’re providing you. Everything in that data packet is as accurate as we can make it, and if they still have only one ship there, the numbers you’ll be facing will be consistent with our estimates, plus or minus about ten Thelosi.”

  The Veetanho’s words filtered into Boudreaux’s awareness as he lifted his mind out of the GalNet. It looked like he and AZ had finished their task just in time. He quickly called up Lieutenant Yeo via his pinplants and sent a single statement.

  “Close the deal.”

  If Yeo received the message, she gave no indication. Instead, she and Colonel Hu looked at each other and nodded.

  “As long as the intel is solid, the job is doable,” Hu said without skipping a beat. “I believe we can get this done. We’ll have one of them here in under three weeks.”

  “I do have one question,” Yeo spoke up. “How do you want us to deliver the captive?”

  Captive?

  Boudreaux and AZ looked at each other. They’d missed quite a bit while they were under.

  “Now that’s an excellent question.” Tokarra reached out to the slate in front of her, the one Boudreaux and AZ had just been hacking, and entered several commands. “We’ve prepared a device that should make transport considerably less complicated than coming home with an alien restrained in cuffs or chains.” The door behind her opened, and two Veetanho wearing blue sashes rolled in a tall cylinder of dark gray metal. It was just over two meters in length, had a control panel on the front, and a clear port that revealed a darkened interior. “Once you have one of the aliens in custody, please place the captive in this confinement chamber and activate the power. The system will automatically place the occupant in cryo-stasis, and the power module should sustain it that way for at least several months.”

  “You certainly came prepared,” Yeo said. “Makes me wonder about your motives.”

  Tokarra raised her nose in the Veetanho version of a non-committal shrug. “Like with any mercenary contract, we reserve the right to keep our wider objectives to ourselves.” She looked thoughtful for a moment. “What is it you Humans say…? Yours is not to reason why?”

  Colonel Hu chuckled. “Quite right. The new contract is solid, and you’ve proven your ability to pay what I consider very generous terms.” He slid his own tablet across the table. “If you’ll just execute the contract here, we’ll be on our way.”

  “Of course, Colonel,” Tokarra replied. She leaned forward, pressed her thumb to the imprint box on the screen, and then rose. “We’ll just leave this with you,” she added, motioning toward the stasis chamber.

  * * *

  Karma Station

  Dock 34-Alpha

  Zhūgéliàng Cargo Hold

  Boudreaux and AZ rolled the stasis chamber into the massive launch bay of the Zhūgéliàng—named after an ancient Chinese hero—with Colonel Hu and Lieutenant Yeo close behind. The jump-capable medium cruiser was the pride of the Hawks’ three-ship fleet and served as their primary mission platform. The large, modified launch bay held four swept-wing LAHVs (Low Altitude High Velocity aircraft) in upper cradles. A single standard drop ship sat on the main deck, locked down but ready for rapid deployment. In addition to the familiar atmospheric craft permanently housed in the launch bay, there was a small shuttle tucked away in a far corner, one that didn’t belong to the Hawks.

  Several of the ship’s crew stood just inside the airlock, expectant looks on their faces. Like many on the ship, they performed two or more duties, and in this case, they were the cargo handlers. The two Humans were Privates Dolan of Ireland, and Singh, a native of Nepal. Private Tokath Burr was a massive GenSha with pale white fur and a green striped pattern. Finally, there was a pair of grim-looking Lumar brothers, Privates Rok and Tolka.

  “Hey, Boudreaux,” Private Singh said with a hop
eful smile. “Are we on?”

  “And then some,” Boudreaux replied a bit ominously. “The colonel will break it all down later. Right now, we need you to stow this in Jian-1.” He raised his eyes to one of the LAHVs cradled above them. He always got a kick out of the designations for their drop ships. Jians were the old Chinese double-edged swords, and he had to admit, the craft did mimic that design in many respects.

  “Please take great care with the stasis chamber,” Colonel Hu said, stepping up. “The whole contract rests on it staying in one piece long enough for us to deliver it back to that shit-eating Veetanho.”

  “Sir?” Tokath said, his voice a deep rumble. “I thought she was our client.”

  “Oh, she is,” Yeo said, shaking her head. “She’s just not a friend.”

  “So it’s another setup?” Singh asked.

  “We think so,” Hu said. “Go ahead and get that stowed. We need to have one last conversation with our guest.”

  “He’s in the shuttle.” Dolan pointed with his thumb over his shoulder. “He hasn’t come out even once.”

  “No surprise there,” Yeo said. “I hate being in the middle of all this, but we don’t have much choice.”

  “That’s right,” Colonel Hu said. “We don’t. And the longer we stand here, the longer it takes us to get ourselves out of this mess. Stow the chamber and prep for our departure. I’ve already notified Captain Zhou.”

  “Yes, sir,” the deck hands said in unison as they moved over to the stasis chamber.

  “Come on, let’s get this over with,” Hu said, making for the shuttle.

  Yeo, Boudreaux, and AZ followed and boarded through the rear hatch of the small shuttle, where they found a hooded Pendal waiting for them in the relatively dark hold. The small, brown being stood there, about a meter and a half tall, it’s upper and lower arms crossed. It wore a deep blue cloak with the hood pulled back, and its peculiar eyes—two on either side of its skull as well as the one in the middle of its forehead—focused on the group as they entered. There was no mistaking the blue sash across its chest, nor the distinct, tree-adorned badge of a Peacemaker.